MANILA, Philippines - In 1987, I was perhaps the most surprised and fortunate person when I learned that SM?s management had approved my application for a selling area in SM Makati?s Boutique Square, a highly sought and prestigious space on the mezzanine floor, which housed mostly SM resident designers.

After all, I had no clothing line to speak of. I was not a well known designer and the clothing line I intended to design, create, and sell in the corner space of the mezzanine floor?conveniently found at the top of the stairs on your left side?was very casual and did not have glitters or shine.

T-shirts, both with collars and without, walking shorts in khaki and grays, were the order of the day. Of course, a number of accessories were thrown in, but the fact is, SM management, which consisted of the Sy family?daughter Tessie, son Harley, and the patriarch Henry Sy, Sr.?saw a potential and promise in the line I intended to sell in the space they had leased to me.

It is this vision, the capacity to foretell exactly what will click and sell, is what I found most admirable in the way the SM management works. Without much grandstanding, they study your samples, and decide by ordering a few pieces or dozens of them. They seem to have the latent ability to detect what would become the next big thing in fashion.

It is due to this trust given to you that you find yourself working with the goal to continually deliver and improve your own craft to cater to the growing needs and demands of your target market, and for that I am grateful. Once they placed their trust in you, quietly and almost subtly, they will encourage you to grow.

The trust is definitely mutual, for as SM has grown, making their presence practically in every corner of the Philippines, and recently in three malls in China, Bench also grown alongside. And that is a simple way of affirming our trust in SM?because wherever you find SM, Bench will be there!